Share this:

PORTLAND, Ore. – As an audition for a team desperate to use their wealth of cap space on a point guard, Goran Dragic made a stronger case than the most slick-talking agent ever could.

The Trail Blazers, however, hung tough long enough that they forced the Rockets to also receive a strong argument that they might just need to keep both point guards.

The Rockets struggled all night to put away the Blazers, but Dragic carried the offense well into the fourth quarter before Kyle Lowry added the knockout punch. With that, the Rockets completed a four-game sweep of their road trip by holding off Portland, 94-89, on Monday.

That was enough to give Dragic his first taste of what it will be like to be a coveted free agent, with so much interest before and after the game about his free agency plans and preferences.

“It was a little bit different,” said Dragic, who was named the Western Conference Player of the Week Monday morning then made 8 of his 14 shots to score 22 points with seven assists. “Before, they never asked me this type of questions. ‘Are you going to come to Portland?’ Still, all the doors are open. We’re going to see what is going to happen this summer. I feel great in Houston. Hopefully, I’m going to stay in Houston.

“It’s going to be a crazy summer for me. Still, I have to get every game, try to be focused, play hard and try to make playoffs with Houston Rockets. What is going to happen after the season, we’ll see.”

The Rockets might not have expected what they have gotten from him, to the point that Monday’s performance was considered no more than ‘solid.’

“Goran had what I’ve grown to expect out of him over the last five or six weeks,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “He goes out there and gets 22 and seven and you go, “Solid game, Goran.’ ”

Though Dragic only became a starter when Lowry missed a month with a bacterial infection, Lowry’s return and rapid recovery offered a reminder of what they can do when playing together.

Lowry came off the bench in his second game back, playing in the backcourt with Dragic to score seven of his 13 points in the fourth quarter run that pushed the lead to 13.

“Sometimes, I’d rather be off the ball,” Dragic said. “Like today, I was really tired. I told Kyle, “Take (Raymond) Felton, take Felton.’ That’s great for our team. It’s hard for the defense. Nobody knows who can play pick-and-roll.”

Lowry was still happy just to be back. But rather than getting his 23 minutes to work his way into shape, he was needed. Courtney Lee and Chase Budinger each shot well, making a combined 11 of 19 shots for 27 points, but both are battling colds. Lee did not play in the fourth quarter.

Lowry, however, stepped in, combining with Dragic on the decisive run.

“I just want to go out there and be aggressive and be myself,” said Lowry, who made 5 of his 6 shots, scoring 13 points with four rebounds and three assists. “I want to go out there and do my thing and help my team. We were having a little bit of a scoring lull. I wanted to be aggressive and attacking.”

The Blazers were within five when the Rockets’ point guards took over. Dragic scored on a three-point play, then set up Budinger for a fast-break slam. Lowry finished a tough drive through the Portland zone before he stripped Jamal Crawford on a drive and Dragic again set up Budinger, this time on an alley-oop that took the lead to 13.

The Rockets made just one field goal in the next six minutes, with Lowry putting in a step-back jumper, but that was more than enough to hold off the Blazers and complete a convincing sweep of the road trip that began against the Bulls and Lakers and ended with a back-to-back.

“When you looked at the schedule, you went, ‘oof,’ ” McHale said. “You said, ‘Man, we’re going to have to find a way to win some of those games,’ and we won them all which is great for us.”

Along the way, they got one point guard back and a strong argument in favor of keeping the other.